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Tuesday, 28 April 2015

RV Roadtrippin' USA

Whilst reading one of my favourite blogs, Life With Baby Kicks, I saw that Laura had written about her travel bucket list. It got me thinking! Before Elliot and before owning our own business, my husband and I were fortunate to have some pretty amazing holidays. We aren't really beach people and we generally like to explore, sample local dishes, do a bit of everything! We love a good roadtrip and two of my favourite ever holidays were driving holidays in the USA. I'll do a separate blog post with my bucket list but I thought I'd tell you all about our USA holidays.

In 2008 we hired a motorhome (or RV as the Americans call them!) and drove from LA taking in sights such as the Joshua Tree National Park, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Death Valley, Yosemite, Zion and Bryce National Parks, Vegas, San Francisco and the amazing Big Sur in California. We were on the road for 3 weeks and we had done some serious planning with our itinerary so we knew how much we had to drive each day and where we needed to camp each night. The was fine for most of the holiday but we did have a bit of an issue near Death Valley. The route we were meant to be taking included a road which was no way suitable for an RV - so we had to take a 7 hour detour!! That day consisted of mainly driving....we were fueled by beef jerky (hubby) and cheetos (me) and it was a bit relief to finally reach our camp site!

Seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time was just amazing, can't put into words how beautiful it is! Of course I'd seen it in pictures and on TV but it's so much more impressive in the flesh!

Monument Valley was another location that took my breath away. It's so familiar but so so awe inspiring and I could have sat there all day just taking the view in. We would have loved to have driven round the famous stacks but it just wasn't doable with an RV....next time!

One thing we weren't prepared for was the weather. We went in May and stupidly thought the climate would be warmish, similar to here. But no, some of the national parks were so cold that we had to buy extra hoodies to keep us warm!! And so much for worrying about getting too hot in the RV, we used the heater more. And let me tell you, walking from the shower block in shorts and flip flops back to the RV when there is snow on the ground was pretty chilly! Of course once we got to the coast it started to warm up although going over the Golden Gate bridge on an open top bus was one of the coldest moments of my life!

Of course we couldn't drive through Nevada and not visit Las Vegas so we planned a two night stopover. What can I say about Vegas...it's loud, it's in your face, it's brash - it's exhausting! The hotels are massive and there's so much to see....and it's great for people watching! Whilst in Vegas we got tickets for the Penn and Teller show - my husband loves magic and their show was brilliant. And I got pulled up on stage to be part of a pretty impressive trick involving my glasses and a sledgehammer!

We really enjoyed visiting the National Parks on our trip - everyone is different and the scenery just takes your breath away. Yosemite was our favourite - although we stayed for two nights, we only got to see a very small bit of it and would love to return one day. We even saw a baby bear! We won't be staying at the same campsite though - I felt like I was in a horror film and the showers had to be seen to be believed!! (It's making my shudder just thinking about it again!)

San Francisco was a brilliant place to visit and probably one of my favourite citys in the world. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit Alcatraz as we hadn't prebooked and the tours were full but this is definitely on our list for next time! We had lots of yummy food in SF including the best clam chowder ever and an amazing chinese buffet in Chinatown. We were sad to leave!

Driving down the Pacific Coastline from San Francisco to LA is one of the most scenic roadtips you can do and it certainly didn't disappoint. We spotted a couple of elephant seals on the beach whilst driving so pulled over to have a look....and then realised that the beach was absolutely full of them! It was the most amazing sight and one of the highlights of the trip.

Another highlight was seeing David Beckham! He was playing for LA Galaxy at the time so we managed to get some tickets for the match on our last day of the holiday. I'm not really into football but it was a totally different experience seeing it over there - the stadium was massive, the fans were really friendly and they even sung the Star Spangled Banner! We had amazing seats right near the pitch too and it was very surreal being that close to Beckham!

It was such an amazing holiday and I would totally recommend it. There is just so much to see in the USA and there are different landscapes around every corner! Travelling by RV was really fun and it was definitely an experience living out of a suitcase for 3 weeks!

Totally envious!! I would LOVE to do this one day!!! My boy did it years ago — way before I met him — plus he grew up in San Fran. I think — perhaps when the twins are old enough to appreciate it — that we may do just this and take a road trip in an RV one year! Thanks so much for linking up with #TwinklyTuesday x

About Me

I'm Elaine, I'm 35 and I live in beautiful Poole on the South Coast. I'm mum to 4 year old Elliot and baby Erin who was born in January 2017.
I write about our days out, local attractions, things to do in Dorset, pregnancy, toy reviews and lots more!